Liverpool have gifted Manchester City a solution to their woes in Raheem Sterling

Manchester City finally got their man after landing Raheem Sterling from Liverpool

Much of the aftermath of Raheem Sterling’s £49 million transfer to Manchester City was focused on how the game of football is being ruined by clubs like City themselves, how money-grabbing youngsters like Sterling, who disrespect their club and manager deserve to rot on the bench of a club like City, and how agents like Aidy Ward are the sole reason behind the beautiful game losing it’s elegance.

His former admirers who were clad in Red have tried their utmost best to dwindle his value, downplay his assets, ridicule the oodles of talent he possesses, just to assure themselves that they haven’t lost a precious commodity.

However, the truth is exactly the opposite of what the Anfield faithful feel it is. At just 20 years of age, there is absolutely no doubt in the fact that Sterling is one of the brightest talents in the world and arguably one of the most promising prospects to come out of Liverpool in a long, long time.

There have been suggestions that this has been one of the best sales Brendan Rodgers has ever presided upon. But, to be honest, all of those suggestions reek of agony – the agony of losing a prodigy who was tipped to achieve magnanimous things at Anfield.

However, the mere truth behind Sterling’s big-money move is his desire to win accolades and play regualrly at the highest level of football – something which City can guarantee and Liverpool clearly couldn’t.

Although the manner in which he sealed his exit was questionable, the purpose behind it, as stated earlier in the piece, was purely driven due to footballing reasons and not by the lure of earning more moolah.

Factors behind the exit

One of the primary forces behind the diminutive winger being so desperate to quit Liverpool might have been the way in which he saw Steven Gerrard’s career culminate towards the end of the 2014/15 campaign.

Envisage yourself to be a promising youngster at a club like Liverpool. What would your thoughts be if you saw the best player at your club – a captain, a legend, a role model, a long-serving servant, leave in the manner Steven Gerrard did? The mere thought of you leaving in the exact same way, (i.e, losing to a mid-table club at home and failing to win a Premier League medal throughout your career) will definitely not leave an encouraging impression on your mind.

Instead, it might end up leaving you depressed and evaluating your options for the future. This is exactly what happened with Sterling. He felt that his ambition and desire to succeed at the highest level of football could be fulfilled in a better manner at some other club and hence he decided to hand in a transfer request in his quest to seek greener pastures.

At City, Sterling will be in the company of world class players who are driven to achieve much greater things than what players at Liverpool are. Manuel Pellegrini’s men are established title challengers and regulars in the Champions League.

This in itself will instill huge amount of confidence within him which will result in him performing at a much higher level on the pitch too. Moroever, being in the company of elite players like David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure will bring out the best in him – just like being in the company of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in the 2013/14 campaign did wonders to accelerate his expeditious growth.

His maturation as a player will be assisted by City’s extraordinary academy and the facilities at his disposal over there too. The EDS is touted as a world class training facility which provides players the perfect opportunity to hone their skills.

Injection of youth at City

The players whose positions are threatened with the arrival of Sterling are Jesus Navas and Samir Nasri. The former has been criticised for being too one-dimensional in his overall playing style, while the latter has failed to replicate the influential displays he exhibited in the past. Serling’s arrival will solve the issues which arise due to the incorporation of both these players into the starting eleven.

Last season, City were criticised for failing to break down teams who sat back and soaked all the pressure which came their way. The inclusion of Sterling will solve the Etihad Stadium outfit’s problem as his ability to run at defenders with pace and dominate, as well as out-wit them in individual duels will come in very handy whilst being deployed against teams which possess resilient backlines.

Moreover, his natural style of play involves engaging two or more defenders towards him which in turn can help Aguero to enter the box without any marker, thereby giving him more time and space to work the 'keeper.

His exquisite dribbling skills in addition to his ability to make penetrative inroads in attack will be a huge asset and will complement Toure’s lung-bursting central runs, Silva’s flair and Aguero’s pace and predatory instinct.

There is absolutely no doubt that Sterling will come into the City starting eleven like a breath of fresh air – in terms of his playing style as well as his tender age. Some old legs in Pellegrini’s team required much-needed rest and the England international’s arrival will enable Pellegrini to achieve that.

It remains to be seen if Sterling can match up to the expectations being levelled towads him but there is no reason as to why he cannot live up to they hype as long as he remains focused and works towards achieving his dream of attaining greatness in the game.